VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Cooperatives in general have given a positive contribution to Indonesian economy. Based on Cooperatives and MSMEs Ministry's data as per December 2020, 127,124 active cooperative units in Indonesia contributed 5.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and absorbed 0.45 percent of total national workforce. 

In Indonesian's five-year economic development plan, the government targets 5.5% national GDP contribution from the cooperatives and 500 modern cooperatives units development by the end of 2024.

The Covid-19 pandemic becomes a great challenge to achieve the 5.5% GDP contribution target. Minister of Cooperatives and MSMEs, Teten Masduki said that 1,785 units of cooperatives were affected by the pandemic. He further mentioned that the main issues faced by cooperatives amid the pandemic are capital (47%), sales decline (35%), and production decline (8%).

With those issues, cooperatives must be creative to make more sales online amid the pandemic. In addition, the cooperatives can stay productive and achieve the GDP contribution target. 

The Indonesian government, as stated by Coordinating Minister for Economy, Airlangga Hartarto on Wednesday (28/7), is encouraging cooperatives modernization to improve their quality in order to stay productive and be able to compete offline and online. With Good Cooperative Governance (GCG), the cooperatives will be able to improve their competitiveness values because of being adaptive towards changes in marketing and technology.

The government also needs to involve the millennials since they are very familiar with technology. This will help in accelerating the modern cooperatives’ growth, which are ready to compete nationally and internationally.